Unit 2: Project 2: Report about the architecture of a Classical Building

The British Museum in London is a museum of human history. Its collection spans over two million years of human existence. The building that houses the British Museum today is in the Bloomsbury area of London. It was designed by Sir Robert Smirke in 1823 using a neo-classical Greek Revival style. The building was completed in 1852.

       The main entrance to the British Museum is in the south wing along Great Russell Street. As one arrives at the gate, one sees a big wide building with a Classical façade.

South Entrance at Great Russell Street, British Museum

 

       From the gate, a big front garden leads to wide stairs to the portico. The classical looking portico consists of two rows of Ionic colonnade. The front row has 8 columns and the back row has 14 columns. The 14-metre high columns support an entablature with a pediment. Narrow windows are positioned on the wall corresponding to spaces between the columns.

Entablature, Echinus and Volute

Base and Plinth

 

       The pediment contained sculptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting the Progress of Civilization. It consisted of 15 allegorical figures denoting the progress of man. There are figures of the primitive man and modern man and animals representing the Arts, Sciences and Natural History. In the centre is a figure of Astronomy, a lady holding a rod, globe and an armillary sphere near her feet.

       The sculptures of the pediments were intended by Sir Richard Westmacott to reflect the Enlightenment view of the early history of religion and progressive history of civilization. However, they also represent the various scope of human culture and progress that were represented in the British Museum. However, some of these are already distributed to the British Library and the Natural History Museum.

Sculptures on the pediment "The Progress of Civilization" by Sir Richard Westmacott

Astronomy holding a rod and globe and an armillary sphere lies on her feet.

 

       The massive size of the façade is imposing when one stands on the ground looking up the tall columns (about 15 times higher than an average person). The size can be said to represent the large amount of artifacts and documents (13 million objects) inside the British Museum as well as the long history of human culture and history compared to an average person’s life span. 

A man standing at the corridor of the colonnade

 

     Advancing beyond the classical portico, one enters into the Front Hall. The Front Hall leads to the Great Court in the north and the South stairs in the west and the Greenville Room in the east. The Front Hall was restored in 2003 to the original 1846 scheme by L.W.Collman. The original decorations were partially destroyed by an air raid during the Second World War and was painted over.

The South stairs from the Front Hall

The ceiling decoration in the Front Hall according to the original scheme by L.W.Collman

 

       The Great Court was previously a quadrangle within the museum flanked on all 4 sides by buildings which contained the galleries and was turned into an indoor space. The construction was started in 1998 and completed in 2000. In addition, various changes were also made: the renovation of the Front Hall, the renovation of the Reading Room, the reconstruction of the south inner portico and also the construction of the auditorium and education centre in the basement.

Floor plan of the British Museum

      A continuous series of triangular glass panels, each unique in its shape, attached to a steel lattice structure was used to construct the roof. They appear to radiate from the centre Reading Room to the surrounding buildings. The refurbished Reading Room is accessed via staircases on a semi-elliptical structure that surrounds it.

The glass and steel roof of the Great Court

       The Great Court functions as a central space where people can enter and exit from all four buildings on each side into a common space. People can move in a more convenient manner by transversing through the Great Court. Each of the four entrances/exits has its own inner classical portico, a smaller one with only four columns and are attached to the wall.

The inner South portico in the Great Court

       Although the Great Court has standard amenities that are found in any modern museum such as a cafeteria with long tables and benches, ticket counters for audio guide and special exhibitions, a inquiry reception, gift shops and an education centre, within it are also displays of larger and important artifacts, on either sides of the inner porticos as well as at the corners of the court as a prelude to the rest of the wonderful objects contained within the buildings.

Artifacts in the Great Court

       The Great Court is a 21st century modern addition and represents the continuum of human culture and progress from past to present.

       I enjoyed myself very much during this visit. It is a new experience to look and study a building for its architecture, symbol and function.